Crazy! UK would get 5 of the top 10 recruits.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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No, I think he's talking about the two top-50 guards that might ask out of their NLIs.:
"I’d keep an eye out for two other top 50 kids to potentially ask out of NLIs … Both guards …"
That’s one I’ve heard …
Cal’s seat is very warm … It’d take a little heat off … Until they under achieve …
The last sentence on this post. What a clear example of where college sports are at. It's literally a free agency with a salary cap. 10 years ago, heck 5 years ago.....would never have believed that this is where the NCAA would end up.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Y'all are so accustomed to a "the team that 'wins' the 'recruits' just keeps snowballing downhill with more and more players" rhythm of college basketball that I think there's a piece getting missed here.
Our first options for our two biggest budget slots are, and should be, TSJ and Hawkins. Very good players who would offer essential continuity. There's no one in the portal we should prioritize over them and one encouraging note to take from yesterday's lower-key additions is that we aren't.
Either or both of them might go pro. BUT IF THEY DO, all of a sudden we have our big NIL guns available to reallocate toward top-of-market portal gets. (There is of course a timeline concern embedded there, but leave that to one side).
This is not the old college basketball where having good players on your team is a matter of tweeting hard enough that teenagers will love you. We have a budget to spend, and we've spent relatively little of it to this point.
Our first options for our two biggest budget slots are, and should be, TSJ and Hawkins. Very good players who would offer essential continuity. There's no one in the portal we should prioritize over them and one encouraging note to take from yesterday's lower-key additions is that we aren't.
Either or both of them might go pro. BUT IF THEY DO, all of a sudden we have our big NIL guns available to reallocate toward top-of-market portal gets. (There is of course a timeline concern embedded there, but leave that to one side).
This is not the old college basketball where having good players on your team is a matter of tweeting hard enough that teenagers will love you. We have a budget to spend, and we've spent relatively little of it to this point.
I mean it still kinda worked like this … People just didn’t talk about it …
You guys saw what happened with Brian Bowen and others … That was happening with dang near every top 100 kid … It just didn’t leak out …
I guess you stick with what has worked with you in the past but I’m surprised Cal is still trying to win with a crew of 19yo McDAAs. I think we’ve seen the one n done era is closed and has probably been closed for a long time. Absent a transcendent talent like Zion or AD, the teams that are winning now tend to be old. Cal’s teams might win a “most years played in the NBA” contest but I don’t think that’s what’s consistently winning in CBB these days
turnaround3
- 1st & Daniel
It's also not apples to apples as 358 D1 programs are operating with 358 different salary caps.
Illinois' cap is not Kentucky's cap the same way it isn't DePaul's cap nor Texas' cap - etc, etc.
Illinois' cap is not Kentucky's cap the same way it isn't DePaul's cap nor Texas' cap - etc, etc.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Wasn't it like $200k that secured Anthony Davis' commitment to Kentucky? An insultingly low amount of money.
Legal markets are a lot more lucrative than black markets. Secrecy is expensive.
NIL is also re-allocating money upward in age from HS recruits to proven contributors who now have exit options they didn't used to.
I confess to know nothing about how any of that worked pre NIL, but I do remember thinking it was an amazing coincidence that the salary for G League ignite basically matched to the dollar what Bowen allegedly got paid for going to Louisville. Almost like the market had already determined the value for these kids. Hm…
Sorry, just saw I repeated what you wrote.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Totally. He's almost a throwback behind the times figure trying to fill up classes with 5 star freshmen now.
To be honest I don't really understand how these kids, who are in some ways more prepared for college basketball than they were in decades past, never seem to impact a younger, less talented college game the way Melo or KD (or even, like, Michael Beasley) did.
AD got more than $200k “allegedly” … I know nothing of that to be true …
Also have to realize … These kids get paid to play for certain AAU programs and certain prep HS programs …
It’s been going on for a LONG time …
so if tyger enters portal would it be anytime soon?
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
There's an old book, "Play Their Hearts Out," that discusses the problems with AAU (and it's over 12 years old, so I'm certain it's gotten much worse). The book covers a coach and his start athlete over the course of a few years. It was a very sad case study. Kids are treated like pieces of meat by adults hoping to strike it rich.AD got more than $200k “allegedly” … I know nothing of that to be true …
Also have to realize … These kids get paid to play for certain AAU programs and certain prep HS programs …
It’s been going on for a LONG time …
Crazy to think they would fire him. It is UK though
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
That has been a fairly loveless, transactional relationship for awhile.
Kentucky fans have been living in the "all of our players are just rentals passing through" era of college basketball for awhile before everybody else. It's less fun!
Calls to mind the wise old adage "the future is already here, it's just not equally distributed"
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
From some of my friends here in Paducah , the word on the street is Cal's seat is more than warm ......it's like this season better be a lengthy run in the dance ....S 16 at least and maybe E 8 or else................................UK fans are so crazy and full of themselves.............
So is all the drama from his initial recruitment in the past? Sounded kinda like bridges were burnt when it all went down
Keep an eye out because it’s interesting in a general recruiting sense (like the kid dropping Duke for UK) or keep an eye out because it could impact Illini?
Oh if it’s not elite 8 … He’d better find a soft spot to land …
Those two I’m talking about would be guys we’d have interest in …
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